


junkyard antiseptic

by vbnorsr



Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, Hand Jobs, M/M, the mechanics & implications of kidlaw inspected and promptly ignored by one trafalgar law
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-08
Updated: 2017-11-08
Packaged: 2019-01-30 23:05:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12663297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vbnorsr/pseuds/vbnorsr
Summary: Eustass “Captain” Kidd has trouble taking care of himself, and Law tries to act like he doesn’t mind."We’re rivals, someday we gotta act like it.”(Rated M for the vague beginning of a sex scene meant mostly to propagate Angst™)





	junkyard antiseptic

Eustass is confident and prideful, and a promising natural at biting off more than he can fit in his stomach. He’s electric, and leaves sparks in his wake, a catastrophy waiting to happen with every off look turned his way.  
Eustass Kidd gets what he wants with a little bit of elbow grease, and he let that go to his head a long time ago.

Usually, that goes well for him -- as well as it can. He’ll have his little pride party grinding a weakling’s cheek into his mud under his boot, spitting taunts and jeers and “Did you really think you could take me on? Are you just a masochist?”  
But sometimes, it bites him in the ass. 

Eustass “Captain” Kidd has trouble taking care of himself, and Law tries to act like he doesn’t mind, but every time he comes to him battered and bloody, seeking medical assistance from the only doctor he trusts with his body in its weakest state, he feels panic shoot up his spine and spread through his limbs, rocketing his heartbeat to something unsteady.  
He hates it when Eustass doesn’t get his way, maybe even more than Eustass does.

This time, he comes to his ship with what looks like two broken ribs and countless cuts and bruises -- most notably a gash under his eye where it looks like he was pinned with a knife.  
Law rolls back from the examination table on his chair, and he sighs loudly, because at this rate, Kidd’s going to be here for a while.

“What’ll it be, doc?” the redhead asks, and his tone is joking, but his voice is rough and cracked like he’s never heard of water and his smirk is too weak to be much but forced. Law just shakes his head in response, grabbing a clipboard from the counter and clicking his pen open, scribbling down a few things. Orders for painkillers next time they dock on a place that has them, mostly. “You can’t move until those ribs are set and healed. Bedrest, here, for a little over a month.”  
Maybe that was a smidge longer than he needed, necessarily, but something nurturing and long-ignored inside of Law implored him to keep Eustass monitored until he was absolutely positive he wasn’t going to hurt anymore.

Eustass visibly tenses at his response, his shoulders set uncomfortably and his eyes flicking around before he responds. “...Gonna keep me company, or you gonna be too busy?”  
The doctor chuckles a bit at that. Sometimes, Eustass really does live up to his name -- he’s childish, and deep down, he’s afraid of being alone.  
But really, so is Law. “Of course. I’ll need to do routine check ups, and catch up with a friend.”

Eustass seems to think about something, and for someone so guarded, it’s painfully obvious for Law to tell what he’s thinking about. And this time, it’s obvious that he’s wondering if he was the friend Law was referring to, before coming to the conclusion that yes, he was.

So Kidd relaxes, and Law gets to work on the bandages and splints.

He’s halfway through dabbing antiseptic onto the gash high on Kidd’s cheek and long done with setting his ribs when he thinks of a question. “What got you so beat up?”  
Kidd scoffs, fidgeting a little in a way that would have probably been prideful if he were standing up. “Rookie crew I’ve never heard of. Didn’t expect them to be as tough as they were. And I got two of their guys down before their bitchass leader got at me, too. Fucker didn’t even realize there was a fight goin’ on and when he got word he came with a knife and enough guys to hold me down.”  
Law clicks his tongue a little at his retelling, drying the spot he’d finished disinfecting and going for a roll of gauze on a tray beside him. “You’re going soft, Eustass.”

As the doctor clips a patch of bandage from the roll, Kidd barks a laugh. “Me? Soft? The fuck you on about?”  
“Losing to a no-name crew, being blindsided…” Law tapes the bandage over the cut and smooths it down, “It’s very unlike you.”

Kidd’s silent for a moment, turning his head on the cheap pillow he’s propped up on to watch as Law grabs the bottle of antiseptic to pour it on a fresh cottonball. “Guess I didn’t expect it either.”

For a while there’s silence as Law goes through the motions of cleaning and dressing the various cuts and scrapes on Eustass’s body, because nothing looks like it’ll need stitches if Kidd plays nice and stays still. Then the fire-haired captain pops a question, and Law pauses momentarily in his actions.  
“Why do you always patch me up like this?”

Law is silent, mulling over his answer as he dumps antiseptic on another ball of cotton. “I’m a doctor, Eustass. It would be a shame on my profession to turn away a wounded man at my doorstep.”  
Kid snorts at that, and continues. “You know that’s not what I’m asking.”  
Law, for all his years in medical school, plays dumb. “I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to elaborate.”

“You’re a captain, I’m a captain. Far as I know, we’re past the grand line for the same goal. At some point, you’ll be the one kicking my ass, or, you know. The other way. We’re rivals, someday we gotta act like it.”

Law is silent for a few more moments, and there’s probably too much antiseptic on the cotton ball by the time he’s done with it. So the bottle’s half empty now, and he has another thing to ask Shachi to pick up while he’s out shopping for supplies at the next port. He sets the cleaning fluid back down on the shining metal of the tray, a soft clink sounding in the otherwise silent room.

Kidd growls slightly when he realizes he’s being ignored. “Don’t dodge the question, Trafalgar.”  
A million responses flit through his mind, gone as fast as they’d come. ‘I don’t want to hurt you’ and ‘We’ll cross that bridge when we reach it’ and ‘I love you, so, so much, so much that it hurts’.

So Law settles on the one that’s most likely to distract Eustass, and pops the button on his pants.  
Eustass seems like he’s about to respond before the initial touch cuts him off, and as Law picks up a steady rythym on his member, twisting and pulling and pressing, Eustass has probably forgotten about the initial conversation anyway, with the way he’s biting into the back of his wrist to suppress his noises.  
Law isn’t into it tonight, but Eustass doesn’t notice if the smell of antiseptic and iron override the scent of sex and sweat, because he’s too far gone to care.  
And Law wishes, so much, that he was, too.


End file.
